


Dance, Bruce!

by Adenil



Series: Seeing What Sticks [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 1995, Conference Life, Grad Student!Bruce Banner, M/M, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 08:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1975998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adenil/pseuds/Adenil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I knew this scientist, a pioneer in gamma radiation. SHIELD showed up, and that's the last I heard from him." – Erik Selvig (in Thor)</p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>  <i>The year was 1995, and Bruce Banner had a smile on his face and hair straight out of Dawson’s Creek as he talked animatedly about gamma bursts from the stars. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance, Bruce!

**Author's Note:**

> Written mostly because I needed to see Bruce smiling after so much sadness in _Run, Banner! Run!_

The year was 1995, and Bruce Banner had a smile on his face and hair straight out of _Dawson’s Creek_ as he talked animatedly about gamma bursts from the stars. Erik watched him strut around the front of the room, messing with the transparency projector occasionally. He spoke mostly with his hands, and Erik grinned at that.

 

“Given the rate of decay, we can easily track new star formations from this quadrant,” Banner said, tracing his hand over the display. “However, the same does not hold true for these quadrants—” he pointed at two points labelled alpha and beta. “—which is where the fun lies.” He held up a hand as if to stop questions, but no one moved to ask.

 

Erik glanced around at those assembled, feeling a bit bad at how paltry the showing was. Banner was smart, his work unprecedented, but he was a grad student. No one really cared. Erik was probably the only full professor in the room, and he’d originally come to support his own student. He looked back as Banner went on to describe his theory. Some radiation was getting lost (he used the term “eaten”), perhaps swallowed up by energy draining planets.

 

It was all a bit Science Fiction, but Erik was still intrigued. He liked Banner’s bright eyes and enthusiasm. He told the later part to Banner after the presentations were over and the crowd had begun to disperse.

 

“Dr. Selvig!” Banner exclaimed, thrusting out his hand to shake as Erik approached.

 

Erik accepted the handshake graciously, feeling a little tickled at being recognized. He was still new enough at being a hot name in the field that recognition gave him that warm fuzzy feeling. “Mr. Banner,” Erik said. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I enjoyed your talk today.”

 

“Oh, ah…” Banner pulled back to run a hand through his hair, leaving shiny curls hanging over his face. “That’s very kind of you to say.”

 

“I’d be interested in hearing more about your theory.” He saw his grad student hovering near the exit out of the corner of his eye, looking nervous. “This evening? Will you be at the reception?”

 

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Banner said immediately. Then he wavered, calming himself. “Perhaps I’ll see you there?”

 

“Count on it.” Erik gave him a little wave and a smile, answering Banner’s own. He strolled away and gathered his student up.

 

He almost forgot about his promise to Banner as the rest of the day progressed and he was swept up in dozens of other brilliant minds and their astonishing theories. As a result he rolled up late to the party, when everyone was already in full swing. Alcohol was flowing freely, the DJ was playing something by Michael Jackson that involved a lot of screaming, and Erik could barely hear himself think over the din of noise.

 

Erik maneuvered around the crowd on the dance floor and turned in his token at the bar for a drink. He sipped it, stealing a little hotdog on a stick to munch on, as he observed the crowd.

 

Off in one corner, his grad student was in an animated, shout-based discussion with a few people he recognized from MIT. He decided to let her spread her wings a little and fly on her own. The crowd was gyrating, everyone was smiling, and then Erik caught sight of Bruce Banner along the far wall.

 

His eyes were still bright. He had a smile plastered on as he observed the crowd, but he didn’t move or sway with the music. Erik purchased another drink, figuring everyone liked beer, and gravitated towards the younger man. Banner stood a little straighter as he approached.

 

“Your hands are empty,” Erik shouted over the noise as he pressed the beer into Banner’s hands.

 

“Thanks!” Banner shouted back. He curled his long fingers around the neck of the bottle and raised it to his lips for a quick sip. He dropped his arm to gesture around the room. “What do you think?”

 

Erik had to lean in to hear the other man, practically pressing against him as the crowd jostled and roared as a new song came on. “I think the beer’s cheap and the company’s good.”

 

Banner smiled at that. “Half the company is wasted.”

 

“And the other half is getting there.” Erik saluted with his beer at the statement and took a drink. Banner followed his example. “Some of the best discoveries are made while drunk.”

 

Banner had to tip his head to the side to hear him properly, and Erik saw his face in profile. He still had that bright smile, although his eyes were turned to the floor to angle his head enough to hear. “I wouldn’t know.”

 

“Really?” Erik laughed. “You can’t tell me your theory didn’t have help from substances.”

 

Banner blushed at that. Erik decided he liked the look. Banner made a so-so gesture with one hand. “The theory was all mine, but the naming conventions had a little help.”

 

They went on for a long while, shouting back and forth at each other. Banner (“no, no, call me Bruce”) was just as animated as he had been earlier. His theory had more depth than Erik had realized. Erik procured four more bottles for them between Bruce telling him about how he had built an electrometer himself (because the one at Harvard was apparently not strong enough), and then going into the math behind his theory.

 

Erik was watching Bruce’s mouth form the syllables of a long string of numbers and letters when the DJ changed the song. Bruce trailed off, his eyes going a little unfocused as _In the Summertime_ blasted over the speakers.

 

“Okay!” Bruce shouted, wrapping his hand around Erik’s forearm. “We can keep talking, but I _have_ to dance to this song.” His eyes were bright again, and Erik was happy to accompany him onto the dance floor.

 

Erik had heard the song a few times over the radio in the lab, but that didn’t mean he knew how to dance to it. Bruce was kind to him, though, sticking by as they twirled around trying to find the rhythm. Erik grimaced when he stepped wrong, but Bruce only laughed. Bruce dropped his arm and tipped his head back, swallowing the last of his beer. Erik watched his Adam’s apple bob as he did so and smiled when Bruce lowered his head again, locking bright eyes with him.

 

“Just relax!” Bruce shouted, and they danced.

 

It was awkward, with a lot of fumbling and trying not to drop his beer, but it was kind of fun. Erik wanted to say he was too old for this, but instead he finished the rest of the bottle and road the buzz as they moved.

 

He was getting hot by the time the song ended and Bruce pulled back with another laugh. Bruce had already lost his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves, so Erik followed his example. There was a lull in the music as the DJ switched tracks, and Bruce used it to dump their empty bottles on the nearest busboy and obtain new ones for them.

 

Bruce handed him the bottle, and their fingers brushed. Erik glanced up at the other man, saw his smoldering look, and had a split second to think that maybe he was being hit on before _Love Shack_ began to play.

 

“Oh wow,” Erik exclaimed as the first few chords came over the speakers. Bruce only looked confused, so Erik yanked him closer by his sleeve to shout in his ear. “You don’t know _Love Shack?_ ”

 

Bruce turned his head so they were standing cheek-to-cheek, and shouted back. “I do!”

 

“Then you have to sing along!” and Erik tipped his head back and did.

 

 _Love Shack_ was harder to dance to, with the crowd nearly doubling on the dance floor, and the added distraction of trying to shout along with the lyrics. There was all motion and flashing lights and Bruce Banner’s shining eyes. Erik realized, dimly, that he’d somehow managed to finish his beer in the space of the song, but he didn’t care because Bruce was wrapping his long fingers around his wrist and pulling him in to shout again.

 

“Let’s get out of here.”

 

They stumbled out of the reception hall and towards the elevators. Bruce was giggling and murmuring something about stoichiometry. Erik let him lean on his arm when he called the elevator, and he was grateful that it was empty. He tried to tell himself to be wary and careful, but he was feeling as warm and flushed as Bruce looked.

 

“I think I forgot to say,” Bruce said as the ringing in their ears began to lessen. “But I loved your last article in Astronomy and Astrophysics.”

 

“You read that thing?” Erik laughed and leaned back against Bruce as the elevator slowly rose. “Not my best work, I’m afraid.”

 

“Really?” Bruce glanced up at him. His hair was falling into his brown eyes and Erik reached over automatically to brush it away. Bruce smiled at him. “I’d like to see your best, then.”

 

Erik could only smile back. He slid his arm up around Bruce’s waist and they supported each other when the door opened. Erik led the way to his hotel room and keyed open the door. He pushed it open with his foot and he and Bruce collapsed through it.

 

Bruce was giggling again. Maybe he had never stopped. His eyes were bright and wide, searching Erik’s face for a moment. “I like your room,” he said, although he didn’t look away from Erik.

 

“It is big.” Erik moved a little closer. Their breath was mingling, a mix of beer and heat. He slipped his other arm up to pull Bruce into a half hug.

 

“I’ve got to share my room with six other grad students,” Bruce said. His voice was low now, practically a whisper. He sounded scratchy and rough from all the yelling at the reception. “It’s not my favorite situation.”

 

“It saves you a lot of money though. I remember doing that when I was in grad school.” He shivered as Bruce raised his arms up to wrap around Erik’s shoulders, pulling him close enough for their foreheads to touch.

 

“Conferences aren’t cheap,” Bruce said, and kissed him.

 

His kiss was warm, with all the excitement he had shown talking about planets eating radiation and electrometers and math. Erik yanked him in, pressed him close, and kissed back. He ignored the voice in his head saying he was half-again this man’s age (and the other one that said he could be fired if it ever got out). It didn’t matter. It was good, and sweet, and Bruce was laughing in between lip presses.

 

They fell into bed together, and Erik learned what his bright eyes looked like clouded with pleasure.

 

*

 

Years passed. They stayed in contact through letters and co-authored papers. They didn’t date, but their night together was added to the tapestry of their lives. It was eleven years later—when an army general came to Culver University hoping to recruit an expert in radiation—that Erik suggested his old friend put in a bid for the contract.

 

He would regret that decision for the rest of his life.


End file.
